‘No constitutional provision for Local Govt Service Commission’

An Ilorin, Kwara State-based constitutional lawyer, Mr Deji Gbadeyan, has declared that “there is no constitutional provision for the establishment of Local Government Service Commission (LGSC) in the 1999 Constitution”.
Gbadeyan said on Sunday in Ilorin that the establishment of such commissions by various state governments was illegal.
He described it as an aberration to the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
He explained that the 1999 Constitution provided for the establishment of Federal and State Civil Service Commissions as well as Judicial and National Assembly Service Commissions.
According to him, these four commissions were constitutionally guaranteed as statutory bodies to undertake management of the affairs of their employees.
Gbadeyan said that prior to 1979, local governments were under the control and supervision of state governments through the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.
He said the Local Government Service Commission was relevant between 1976 and 1978, until the 1979 Constitution which recognised local governments as the third tier of government.
“Based on 1976 local government reform, administration of the local council was under the state which sets up Local Government Service Commission to exercise discipline and control over local government employees.
“Therefore, LGSC employs staff for the LGAs because of the unitary nature of LGA administration.
“The 1979 Constitution gave local government autonomy for the first time in the country and allowed each council to directly draw allocation from the Federal Account Allocation Commission (FAAC),” Gbadeyan added.
According to him, Section 162; sub-sections 6 and 7 of the 1999 Constitution also preserved local government autonomy.
He said that the establishment of LGSC to administer local governments as it was before 1979 Constitution was, therefore, an aberration of the 1999 Constitution currently in force.
“It is wrongful, unimaginable and unlawful of anybody masquerading as LGSC to employ on behalf of any local government council and transfer such staff to another to function as staff of where he was transferred to,” said the legal practitioner.